There is one military occupational skill that, unarguably, provides today’s ground force commanders in the United States Military an overwhelming tactical advantage on the battlefield, the Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) is that individual that provides this specific skill. The Joint Terminal Attack Controller, also known as and referred to as the JTAC, provides the precise guidance of air to ground munitions release from multiple aircraft platforms to destroy, disrupt, delay, degrade, and or dislocate the enemy forces. For this very reason, the JTAC is a much-needed skill-set. Furthermore, Combat is complex and adding air assets into the fight in conjunction with and within close proximity of the friendly ground forces heightens
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These teams usually referred to as FACP’s, consisting of an Air Liaison Officer (ALO) who he himself was an aviator and a forward air controller (FAC), who at this point in time was a ground pounder (Gordon, 2008). The ALO teamed up with the FAC provided a team that brought the knowledge of aircraft tactics and ground tactics together; with the chemistry of the two Close Air Support (CAS) became possible and effective. For this very reason, the FACP’s is an outstanding concept that the British Royal Air Force (RAF) orchestrated; America quickly adopted this concept after witnessing its success in the Italy Campaign during World War II (Gordon, 2008). The RAF utilized FACs in aircraft as well as FACs and TACPs on the ground, with the use of radio communications to fulfil CAS operations. The United States Military continued and expanded the use of these teams throughout WWII and in all theaters of …show more content…
This section will discuss the types of equipment used over the years by the JTAC and all of the JTAC’s predecessors starting with the Civil War.
During the Civil War, although there was not a lot of equipment available it is still worth the mention due to its ingenuity. During this time period and up through World War I the hot air balloon was the aerial platform used by the military. The equipment used on the platform consisted of viewing equipment and the operator (Pocock, 2008).
World War II, after the U.S. Military adopted the tactics used by the RAF for TACPs the U.S. Army added the L-5 Sentinel (Gordon, 2008).
Starting, during the U. S. involvement in the Korean War equipment utilized ranged from aircraft to jeeps with a radio suite capable of communication with aircraft. The most used aircrafts were the L-5 Sentinel and the T-6 Mosquito (Allen, 2008). As for the Jeep used by the TACPs, it was a VRC-1 with ground to air radios (Allen, 2008). However, during the Vietnam conflict the equipment available to the TACPs and FACs increased
These teams usually referred to as FACP’s, consisting of an Air Liaison Officer (ALO) who he himself was an aviator and a forward air controller (FAC), who at this point in time was a ground pounder (Gordon, 2008). The ALO teamed up with the FAC provided a team that brought the knowledge of aircraft tactics and ground tactics together; with the chemistry of the two Close Air Support (CAS) became possible and effective. For this very reason, the FACP’s is an outstanding concept that the British Royal Air Force (RAF) orchestrated; America quickly adopted this concept after witnessing its success in the Italy Campaign during World War II (Gordon, 2008). The RAF utilized FACs in aircraft as well as FACs and TACPs on the ground, with the use of radio communications to fulfil CAS operations. The United States Military continued and expanded the use of these teams throughout WWII and in all theaters of …show more content…
This section will discuss the types of equipment used over the years by the JTAC and all of the JTAC’s predecessors starting with the Civil War.
During the Civil War, although there was not a lot of equipment available it is still worth the mention due to its ingenuity. During this time period and up through World War I the hot air balloon was the aerial platform used by the military. The equipment used on the platform consisted of viewing equipment and the operator (Pocock, 2008).
World War II, after the U.S. Military adopted the tactics used by the RAF for TACPs the U.S. Army added the L-5 Sentinel (Gordon, 2008).
Starting, during the U. S. involvement in the Korean War equipment utilized ranged from aircraft to jeeps with a radio suite capable of communication with aircraft. The most used aircrafts were the L-5 Sentinel and the T-6 Mosquito (Allen, 2008). As for the Jeep used by the TACPs, it was a VRC-1 with ground to air radios (Allen, 2008). However, during the Vietnam conflict the equipment available to the TACPs and FACs increased